


Wrapped In Darkness

by questionablemorals



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Space Ninjas, it's really gen but i guess it's levi/eren if you squint, the space au that no one asked for or wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 13:18:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionablemorals/pseuds/questionablemorals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Six weeks after the aliens attack Earth, Eren’s mother is sucked into space when aliens shoot a hole in the side of a ship. Eren, locked in place by a terrified deckhand, watches through a sealed door.</i>
</p><p>  <i>He gets a flash of his mother getting eaten by a monster, and shakes his head, tears stinging his eyes. Not now, he begs his mind. Not this. Not again."</i></p><p>the one where they battle aliens and everyone is <i>seriously</i> feeling the deja vu</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wrapped In Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> WHY DO I KEEP WRITING SPACE AUs I DON'T KNOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE I LIKE WHAT I LIKE

Six weeks after the aliens attack Earth, Eren’s mother is sucked into space when aliens shoot a hole in the side of a ship. Eren, locked in place by a terrified deckhand, watches through a sealed door.

He gets a flash of his mother getting eaten by a monster, and shakes his head, tears stinging his eyes. _Not now_ , he begs his mind. _Not this. Not again._

* * *

When he sees a girl sitting alone at one of the tables in the mess hall and her faces flashes through his head with longer hair and an even longer red scarf, he basically resigns himself to fate and introduces himself.

“Mikasa,” she says.

“Mikasa,” he repeats, and it rolls off his tongue like he’s been saying it for years.

* * *

 

They don’t talk about it, not really. He sees her recognition when he carelessly throws a scarf at her head, sees her small smile when she puts it on. They’re thousands of light years from where he grew up, but he’s suddenly overcome with a feeling of _home_.

* * *

One night, Eren wakes up, gasping and feeling too many meters tall and worrying that he’s torn the whole ship apart, and sees Mikasa perched on the end of his bed, head down.

“It’s not the same,” she says.

“No,” he agrees. _Back then I could actually do something_.

She stares at him, face unreadable, before cracking a smile. “I mean, considering it ended so well last time…”

They volunteer as cadets the next day.

* * *

They meet Armin on the shuttle between ships, on the verge of getting the shit kicked out of him by two other boys. There’s a flicker of recognition when he sees them, and then his eyes widen. It’s almost comical, the speed at which his expression goes from scared to ecstatic to relieved.

“Eren,” he says. “Mikasa.”

“Armin,” he replies, grinning. He didn’t know he’d missed the other boy until now. This reincarnation thing was _very_ confusing.

Armin looks as resigned as Eren feels as Mikasa helps him up.

“So, here we go again,” says Eren.

Armin smiles. “I brought books.”

* * *

Eren is completely unsurprised that his mind starts going completely batshit as soon as he arrives on the battlestar.

“I thought it was bad before,” he murmured, as he sees someone walk by and then sees their face on a body impaled on a tree. Armin just hums under his breath, determinedly _not_ looking at anyone. Mikasa shrugs and, of course, appears completely unaffected. _Typical_.

* * *

They all freeze upon seeing a huddle of cadets, and too many things flash through Eren’s mind, too many memories, and he just wants to curl up and make them stop.

That train of thought is rather rudely interrupted by what seems to be a _battle cry_.

It’s in this moment that it occurs to Eren that Mikasa may _not_ have been as unaffected as she seemed.

She runs at Annie, _yelling_ , and Eren gets that, but also—

Well, it’s _Annie_ , who is probably the only one who could ever even hope to match Mikasa in a fight, and who is also one of the best fighters Eren’s ever _seen_ , and it’s aliens, not Titans.

It’s Annie, and it’s the end of the world, _again_ , and shouldn’t they all get second chances?

“Mikasa, don’t—“

Her fist connects with Annie’s face, and the blonde girl yelps in surprise, falling backwards onto the ground.

Her eyes widen as Eren wrestles Mikasa to the ground, and then she goes very still, eyes focusing in on something far away. Eren knows that look, has seen it on Mikasa and Armin and—

“Annie?” he says, tentatively.

That’s the moment that Annie turns and vomits onto Connie’s shoes.

* * *

It turns out, strangely, that Sasha has been doing the whole “flashes” thing longer than Eren, a fact she happily informs him of as she drops down across from him at the table.

“What, you thought you were special?” She grins, biting into the lame attempt at bread that the food replicator had managed. “It’s been happening to _me_ since before the invasion. My dad was stationed on a military escort ship, they used to make us run for _days_ , and I kept getting flashes of our first day with the 104th.” She jerks her hand towards the other members further down the table. “That’s where I was when—everything happened. And then I started getting Titan flashes—thought I’d never sleep again, honestly—and then I get here and first thing I see is freaking _Krista_ offering me bread, I thought I was dreaming.”

She pauses, glancing down the table. “I tried to say something, but…I don’t think they remember anything yet.” She looks down at her plate, eyes suddenly sad. “I’m glad you’re here. It’s been…hard.” She glances sidelong, eyes resting on Marco, and flinches.

Eren can relate. Marco’s face, half torn off, has been dancing behind his eyes ever since he laid eyes on the boy.

Sasha visibly brightens. “Also, now that you’re here, we can finally get started.”

* * *

‘Get started’ apparently means ‘sit around listening to lectures about safety for two weeks.’ Eren’s feeling almost murderous by day twelve.

* * *

The whole ‘flashes from my past life where I was a soldier in a battle against giant person-eating titans and also one of those titans’ thing can be _really fucking inconvenient_ at times.

He keeps trying to remember things, _anything_ that might possibly be helpful, but it all seems fuzzy, locked away somewhere. He remembers green cloaks but no faces, remembers using the 3D maneuvering devices but no actual operations.

It’s very, very frustrating.

He takes to running around the ship—jogging, really—alone or with Mikasa, or even, occasionally, Annie. He thinks it’s probably hard for her, having all those memories she didn’t want and never knew. She and Mikasa avoid each other with studied determination and Sasha flinches whenever the blonde is near her, but Eren was a Titan, too. He understands. (Kind of.)

It doesn’t hurt to let her run next to him. 

* * *

Marco and Jean start to remember within minutes of each other, which is surprising to exactly _no_ _one_.

The cadets are all paired up and practicing hand-to-hand combat on one another, and Ymir slams Marco down onto the ground on his right side. He groans halfheartedly, and she smirks down at him, pulling him up and patting him on his right cheek.

He freezes.

“Oh no,” says Mikasa softly and Eren looks over just as Marco falls to the ground and starts to yell in pain. Ymir takes several steps back, eyes wide.

“I didn’t—“ she stutters.

Jean hurries over. “Marco, you all ri—“ Marco slumps over, breathing heavily, his left side the only part of him visible.

Jean goes still, eyes on the shuddering form of Marco.

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” says Sasha.

And _that’s_ when Jean starts yelling. 

* * *

It just kind of…happens for everyone else.

The first in-space excursion happens a month in. They’re all still getting used to the space suits, but Mikasa, Sasha, Eren, Marco, Jean, and Armin pick it up so quickly that the instructor actually comments on it. Connie, oh the other hand, actually collides with Sasha.

Then he starts grinning and saying strange, kind of dirty things that make Sasha blush and everyone else awkwardly mute their comms.

Reiner and Bertolt…well, Eren doesn’t really know how _that_ happened, but one day they come in and sit down a table over with Annie, and she actually looks fucking _happy_ for once, and he figures they’d gotten the gist.

And Ymir and Krista—

“They know,” says Mikasa.

“What?” says Eren.

“Trust me. They know,” she says, nodding towards the two girls whose heads were bent together. 

* * *

Their first battle is messy and really, really terrifying, and if Eren thought Titans were bad, they were a picnic compared to scary smart, homicidal aliens who liked to play target practice with cadets.

The ships have a flaw that is too small for the big ships to hit, but perfect size for a single soldier maneuvering themselves in a metallic spacesuit armed with a phaser to hit. The suits didn’t puncture easily, but it bruised like a _bitch_.

Mikasa shoots through space like she was born to do it, and takes out more alien ships than the rest of the cadet squad put together.

Jean sends himself cartwheeling through space to push Marco away from a particularly nasty blow to the stomach, growling over comms. “ _Pay attention_.”

They lose 30% of their class in one day, and Eren spends the night afterwards standing guard outside the door while Armin vomits in the bathroom.

* * *

He’s running the hallways of the battlestar when he _literally_ runs into Levi.

“Sorry, sorry—“ He sputters, but the words die on his lips when his eyes focus on the shorter man.

And just like that, _so many things_ slot into place.

The green cloaks suddenly have faces attached to them, the battles start to come together in his head, and he nearly falls over.

“Sorry, Corporal.” The words trip off his tongue quickly and easily.

“I’m not a corporal—“ The other man falters, staring at Eren with what could be curiosity but mostly looks like boredom, because Levi is Levi no matter how many years have passed.

“Uh. Sorry.” He _knows_ he’s looking at Levi with a kind of hopeful smile, but he can’t seem to stop himself.

“Yeah. You said that.” The two men stare at each other. “So, you gonna get out of my way, brat?”

Eren’s been watching it happen in his friends for long enough that he can recognize when it happens to Levi. His eyes don’t really change, but they _do_ widen a fraction of an inch, and that’s all Eren needs for his smile to grow into a grin.

“See ya, Corporal,” he sketches the old salute, still grinning like a maniac, and takes off down the hallway. 

* * *

It takes Levi two days and five hours to try and find Eren, and, unfortunately, he finds Mikasa first.

Eren finds the two circling each other warily, and barely resists the urge to throw his hands in the air and stomp out.

_Note to self: Make sure Levi and Annie are never in the same room. Ever._

“Will you two stop?” he says, exasperated.

“I don’t know what you mean,” replies Levi, eyes never leaving Mikasa’s, entire body in a defensive stance.

“We’re just catching up,” says Mikasa, looking like she was about to murder Levi with the fork in her hand.

* * *

“I can’t believe you managed to survive this long without the Titan shit,” says Levi, leaning against the doorframe. “You can’t turn into an alien this time around, right?”

Eren shoots up, nearly braining himself on Mikasa’s bunk above his. “Uh—no.”

“I assume the other three can’t either, then.” Levi’s voice is carefully disinterested and extremely cold.

Eren doesn’t ask who he’s talking about. “No.”

“I don’t want to see them. Seriously, Jaegar. Not ever.” Levi’s hands fidget, and it’s so different than the Levi Eren had known before that Eren wants to reach out and still his hands.

He resists the urge.

“Okay.” A thought strikes him. “What about me?”

Levi’s hands still. “Don’t be a fucking moron, brat. It doesn’t suit you.”

He turns on his heel and walks out, leaving Eren on the bed.

* * *

Eren wishes he could be surprised when he ends up on Squad Levi, part of the elite group going out into deep space on smaller ships to do…something. It really depended on who you asked, either trying to find the alien homeworld and destroy it (Levi) Or to just find a hidden, habitable planet somewhere for humans to live on (Hanji).

(Hanji sees him, turns white as a sheet, hugs him, and then bursts into tears. He’s not quite sure what that’s about. He prefers not to know.)

Petra comes and stands next to him on the observation deck of their small ship. He can see the ship Mikasa and Sasha are stationed on way, way far behind them, barely visible, while the one with Armin and Jean is somewhere in front.

“You’ve been avoiding us,” she says, voice neutral.

“It’s…uh,” he coughs. “It’s hard.” _All I see is your snapped neck_.

Petra sighs, and reaches out, squeezing his shoulder. “We don’t blame you.”

He closes his eyes. “Why not?” His voice comes out quiet and broken to his own ears.

She stays quiet for a while. “You trusted us. You did what we told you to do. It would be pretty shit of us to blame you for _that_.”

He opens his eyes again, and she rests her head against his shoulder. “What if it happens again?”

She shrugs. “Then we die saving the human race. Again. Not a bad way to go.”

He huffs a bit in agreement.

“You know, I think you’re taller this time around,” she says, moving back. “Levi must be _pissed_.”

* * *

“ _Jaegar, watch your fucking six!_ ” screams Levi over the comms. Eren lets a burst of air to maneuver quickly to the side, the weird organic matter catapulting towards his head barely missing. Unfortunately, he wheeled straight into the path of another piece of debris.

“ _Eren, you okay?_ ” Petra’s voice comes over comms, urgent, and Eren groans.

“Okay, it just clipped me, I think.”

“ _Uh…_ ” There’s worry in Petra’s voice. “ _I’ve got visual on you and there’s something creeping up your suit._ ”

“ _Retreat!_ ” yells Levi. “ _Quarantine procedure, someone fucking get Hanji online, she’s gonna lose her fucking shit_. 

* * *

Hanji does, indeed, lose her fucking shit.

“Can you feel this?” She pokes at Eren’s back and he winces.

“Yes.” Of course. Of course he gets infected with the weird alien stuff. So fucking typical.

“That’s amazing,” breathes Hanji. “I’m going to run some tests, you just—sit tight, okay?”

Eren dies a little inside.

* * *

“You literally can’t even help yourself, can you?” says Levi.

“Yeah, cause it’s my dream to be Hanji’s test subject in _every_ life,” grumbles Eren, resisting the urge to scratch at the weird silver coating his back.

The entire situation feels very familiar, except instead of bars it’s glass and Captain Erwin is absent.

Levi grins lazily. “Déjà vu, huh?”

“Tell me about it.” Eren flops onto the cot. “So when do you start beating me to a pulp, Corporal?”

“Sorry to ruin your wet dream, brat, but you only get that treatment first time around.” There’s a tiny, miniscule note of affection in Levi’s voice and Eren holds onto it like a lifeline against the alien matter he’s pretty sure is trying to take over his body.

“Hey—“ He almost stops himself, but carries on resolutely. “If it gets bad, can you—bring Mikasa and Armin here? It’s just. I didn’t get to say goodbye. Last time.” He trips over the words.

“I swear to god, Jaegar, those better be the last words about dying from this that I hear come out of your mouth, or I _will_ come in there and kick your ass and leave you for the aliens.” Levi’s voice is deceptively calm, but Eren has known him in two lifetimes now, and he can hear the anger in the older man’s tone.

“Right. Yes sir. I will continue to pretend that I’m not dying of a weird alien disease with no cure.”

“Damn straight.”

* * *

It turns out that Eren is actually _not_ dying of a weird alien disease and is actually being made _really badass_ due to a miscalculation by the aliens of what said weird disease would do to human physiology and blah blah blah technical Hanji stuff that everyone kind of tuned out but the end result was that Eren could _totally survive in space for like ten minutes_.

“Why—how does this _always happen to him_?” asks Jean.

Armin shrugs. “I’ve just kind of gotten used to it.”

* * *

Humanity doesn’t really win so much as _gracefully retreat_.

“It’s pretty close to Earth-norm,” enthuses Sasha. “And there’s this really great fruit that grows there, it tastes like if an orange and a mango had a child—“

“You _ate_ it?” says Annie, looking revolted. “What if it was poisonous?”

“It probably wasn’t,” reasons Sasha. “And I’d honestly rather die than eat another batch of processed algae.”

“The best thing,” says Armin, “is that it’s in an ion cloud the size of Jupiter. It’ll be nearly impossible for the aliens to find us for the next few million years. Our brand new home.”

Mikasa looks at Eren. He tugs on her scarf and she smiles.

* * *

That ‘weird alien shit’ actually has the unknown side effect of making Eren completely allergic to everything on New Earth. He’s on shore for two minutes before his throat starts to close, and he has to return to the shuttle. Hanji runs allergy tests on him, and everything lights up.

“I—“ she looks heartbroken. “I’m sorry, Eren, I don’t know what it is.”

He kicks his feet at the wall and she pretends not to see the tears on his face.

* * *

“So, are you just going to sit around feeling sorry for yourself, or can we start this expedition?” Levi’s voice rings through the bridge, sounding supremely bored.

Eren’s head snaps up. “What are you doing spaceside?”

Mikasa follows the other man in, settling herself comfortably in the first mate’s chair. “He got run off the planet. It was _hilarious_.”

“I’m a soldier,” complains Levi. “Not a farmer, or a—a shopkeeper. A _soldier_.”

“He accidentally set Pixis’ field on fire,” explains Armin, lagging behind due to the honestly astonishing amount of books and papers he was holding. “Did you tell him?”

“Was about to,” says Mikasa, tugging at her scarf.

“We’ve got orders,” says Levi, eyes glinting. “Exploring space, looking for intelligent life. Terribly dangerous, of course, since we know just what kind of intelligent life is waiting out there—“

“What shortstack over there is trying to say,” says Mikasa, “is that as soon as Hanji gets her shit together, she, Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt are flying up here and we are going back out into space.”

Eren stares around openmouthed.

“Surely you didn’t think we’d leave you here to rot, Jaegar,” says Levi, amused.

* * *

The crew changes between refueling stops back to the planet—Mikasa always stays, and Levi leaves once before coming back scowling and swears he’s never setting foot on the planet _again_ —and sometimes Petra joins them and sometimes Sasha and Connie, and even Jean comes with them once.

They find a planet of Titans, once, and almost die (again), and decide to leave very quickly. They find a planet that is entirely covered in purple flowers, and Petra almost dies when she sniffs one. They find old cultures and new ones, and the silver veins on Eren’s back get longer but no one ever mentions it.

It’s not a perfect life, but it’s better than walls, and it’s pretty good for a second chance.


End file.
